Missing in Shanghai

LoveReading View on Missing in Shanghai

An entertaining and readable foray into a fascinating veiled world, this is the third novel in the Diplomatic Crime Series and can easily be read as a standalone. Set in a duel time frame, in the present Diplomat Jess Turner and DI Tom Sangster are in London for the visit of the Chinese Premier, while in the past Marianne Henderson finds herself in the firing line when she discovers the British Ambassador dead in a Shanghai hotel room. Author Jean Harrod was a British diplomat and has lived and worked in China, her voice rings with authenticity and she has the ability to take you into her world. Parallel lines run between Jess and Marianne creating tension and I sat with my thoughts, waiting, on alert. I worried for Jess and Marianne, and was reluctant to trust anyone! The ending of ‘Missing in Shanghai’ rather rushed towards me to wrap up proceedings, though I was pleased to see that the door is left open for a return.

Missing in Shanghai Synopsis

Diplomat Jess Turner is in London and working on the China desk in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It’s her job to ensure the State visit of the Chinese Premier runs smoothly. But tensions are running high.

As work progresses, Jess uncovers a shocking secret. A British diplomat, Marianne Henderson, went missing in Shanghai in 1984 and has never been seen again. Not only that, all evidence she ever existed vanished with her. When Jess starts asking questions, she is warned off. But she is caught up in a chain of events she has no power to control. As she digs into the past to find out what happened to Marianne, Jess finds herself in grave danger.

Missing in Shanghai Press Reviews

An entertaining and readable foray into a fascinating veiled world, this is the third novel in the Diplomatic Crime Series and can easily be read as a standalone. Set in a duel time frame, in the present Diplomat Jess Turner and DI Tom Sangster are in London for the visit of the Chinese Premier, while in the past Marianne Henderson finds herself in the firing line when she discovers the British Ambassador dead in a Shanghai hotel room. Author Jean Harrod was a British diplomat and has lived and worked in China, her voice rings with authenticity and she has the ability to take you into her world. Parallel lines run between Jess and Marianne creating tension and I sat with my thoughts, waiting, on alert. I worried for Jess and Marianne, and was reluctant to trust anyone! Just be aware that I found a couple of errors in the text, however it didn’t spoil this read for me. The ending of ‘Missing in Shanhai’ rather rushed towards me to wrap up proceedings, though I was pleased to see that the door is left open for a return.

About Jean Harrod

Jean Harrod is a former British diplomat who has spent much of her life working overseas in Embassies and High Commissions in Australia, Brus-sels, the Caribbean, China, East Berlin, Indonesia, Mauritius and Switzerland. Set in the Caribbean, ‘Deadly Deceit’ is her second diplomatic crime nov-el. The book is one of a series featuring diplomat Jess Turner and Australian DI Tom Sangster.
Below is a Q&A with this author.
What made you decide to use your career as a diplomat to write a crime series?In the 1990s I was the British Consul in Indonesia, and ...